Jeff Probst was shocked by first Survivor 47 elimination

If viewers were shocked by the first person to be voted out of Survivor 47 on Wednesday’s two-hour premiere on CBS, they weren’t alone. So was the host.

It appeared that Andy Rueda would be the first booted after the AI research assistant from Brooklyn suffered from heat exhaustion at the challenge and called out his tribe mates for not liking him. He also openly explained that he had considered throwing his best ally under the bus. And in the end, that’s kind of what he did.

Andy joined the rest of his Gata tribe in unanimously voting out celebrity podcaster Jon Lovett — a vote that stunned none other than Jeff Probst. “Based on how things were after the challenge, I was shocked,” says the host and showrunner on the latest episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast. “I thought Andy was done and he seemed to be a massive liability for all the reasons we've been talking about.”

In fact, Probst was so sure Andy was a goner, that he felt sympathy for the seemingly soon-to-be dearly departed. “I was actually kind of sad as Andy walked off, because I wanted him to get everything he wanted out of this experience, and it didn't seem like it was going to happen,” Probst says.

While Probst was initially startled by the vote, he sees the logic in it: “In hindsight, Jon is obviously a very bright guy, and he's a tremendous storyteller. And so it really should never be a surprise that people like Sam might pick up on this idea and decide, ‘You know what? Andy could actually be more valuable because of what happened, and Jon will be a massive threat because of who he is. So maybe the move right now in episode 1 is to take out somebody we all believe could win this game.’ And I think that's what they did.”

Lovett’s early exit no doubt surprised fans who just days earlier had read on Entertainment Weekly how the host described the podcaster as one of the franchise’s greatest storytellers ever. Unfortunately for Lovett, his story ended after only three days. On the podcast, Probst revealed the notes he took on the player during the casting process.

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“My first impressions were what you might expect,” Probst says. "I wrote, ‘He's amazing, very compelling, incredible storyteller. He will be great. Yes, he should be on the show.’ And then as we continued to talk more in future conversations, I wrote, ‘He does overthink things. This could cause decision-making issues.’ And then after another interview, I wrote, ‘He should and could go very deep. He's so smart. What would stop him?’"

What stopped him, Probst argues, was “Something unexpected. Andy has this collapse and starts to throw him under the bus, and that goes back to the very beginning of this episode, which is the uncertainty that starts when you're on that beach and your story is yet to be told. Well, the first words are being written, and maybe Jon Lovett said something in those opening moments that somebody else clocked and went, ‘Who is that guy?’"

It turns out that guy just got voted out of Survivor.

To listen to Probst break down the entire premiere — including all those capsizing boats — check out On Fire with Jeff Probst.